Customer Service Lament

I've been thinking a lot about customer service. Companies have entire departments devoted to it. You can call customer service, e-mail customer service, even chat live online with customer service. Management trains their frontline or first contact employees to provide customer service. Some businesses I patronize give great customer service. Sadly, most businesses do not.

On Friday, June 12, Waste Management failed to pick up our garbage. Our delivery is on Friday afternoon. I e-mailed customer service and received this immediate e-mail back: "A customer service representative will respond soon to your question." I waited. Our trash sat on the curb over the hot weekend. I e-mailed customer service again at the beginning of the week and received an immediate e-mail back: "A customer service representative will respond soon to your question." Frustrated, I called the Waste Management customer service phone number in the Twin Cities. They said they would schedule a pick-up of our trash which had sat on the curb over the weekend -- for Wednesday. That day came and went. My trash finally was picked up on Friday, a full week late on my regular service day. I researched the costs of two other garbage haulers that service my neighborhood and vowed the next time our trash isn't picked up to switch services.

A couple of weeks ago I completed a customer satisfaction survey Waste Management e-mailed to me. I rated my recycling service middle high, my garbage service middle low. And I took the opportunity to clearly explain that sending an e-mail back saying "A customer service representative will respond soon to your question" -- is not customer service.

On Thursday, Oct. 15, more than four months after I e-mailed customer service twice and received messages that a customer service representative would "respond soon," I received a phone call from a Waste Management customer service representative. I laughed that my service problem finally was getting an airing. She tried to make me a satisfied customer by explaining to me that my e-mail requests for service went to their national system but were never routed back to our service region. The collective "They" she spoke for, has no record of my requests for service. However, in the future, I can "chat online" for immediate customer service. Then, she qualified, but only during the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

I choose to laugh, rather than cry. My hauler made it today. He's even early. Let's just hope he doesn't miss any more pickups.